A Warren man who faces 22 felony charges after allegedly having sexual contact with a 12-year-old girl is fighting to be released from jail while he awaits disposition of his case. .

Trevor Lester was jailed on $75,000 bail in September after a preliminary arraignment in front of Magisterial District Judge Raymond Zydonik after being charged with four counts of first-degree rape of a child, four counts of first-degree statutory sexual assault – 11 years or older, three counts of first-degree involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, three counts of second-degree felony aggravated indecent assault – less than 13 years old, four counts of third-degree felony corruption of minors – defendant age 18 or above and four counts of third-degree felony indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age. All of those charges are still on track to proceed to court.

On March 23, Lester’s attorney filed a motion for release under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 600, which guarantees a prompt trial. The rule generally requires district attorneys to bring someone accused of a crime to trial within 365 days of the filing of a criminal complaint – which in Lester’s case September 18. If someone accused of a crime is incarcerated for more than 180 days or over 365 days if not in jail but released with conditions and a trial has not taken place, a written motion can be filed for release on nominal bail or for the case to be dismissed. Judge Gregory Hammond, president judge of the Court of Common Pleas, ruled March 23 not to release Lester immediately on nominal bail under Rule 600. Lester’s attorney followed that with another motion on March 25, with the second motion also denied by Hammond. A third motion was filed April 14 by Lester’s attorney, with that motion also denied by Hammond.

April 23 brought a motion to change where Lester is currently jailed. That motion was denied by Hammond, but then a transportation order was filed by Hammond on Monday. Court records in an unrelated case show Lester had been taken to the Erie County Prison in November 2025 after his Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition on a charge of third-degree felony endangering the welfare of children as part of a DUI charge.

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, Warren city police officers received a report on May 30 from the mother of a 12-year-old child that the girl was allegedly exchanging sexually-related photographs and conversations through Snapchat with Lester. The girl was interviewed the following day at the Warren County Children’s Advocacy Center, during which the girl allegedly admitted to being in a relationship with Lester and to having contact with Lester via Snapchat.

On June 1, the girl’s stepfather said during an interview with police that Lester allegedly admitted to him that Lester had sexual intercourse with the girl. During a follow-up interview on Wednesday, the girl allegedly told police about several sexual acts between herself and Lester – each of which resulted in the felony first-degree rape charges. A neighbor told police that she had also allegedly witnessed inappropriate contact between the 12-year-old and Lester.